Let’s rewind to March. I’m on the rooftop patio/stage of Maggie Mae’s in Austin during SXSW. My drinking and show-going partner is Ryan from Juniper Tar. We’re trying to get into a side room to catch Common Loon, but, even with wristbands, our admittance is denied. We decide to stick around and see what bands are on tap for the rest of the night on the venue, but we’re early. Like, super early. The only other early bird patrons waiting around are (and I’m not joking) John Norris and two stunning girls from the University of Georgia. We decide to chat up the gals. They’ve arrived early to see their favorite band, Futurebirds. They insist we stick around as we won’t be disappointed. Honestly, they went on and on about the greatness of the band. We didn’t take their advice and ended up leaving the joint.

Now, present day, I’m listening to the forthcoming Futurebirds album Hampton’s Lullaby, due July 27th on Autumn Tone records, and more than a little regret ridden having missed my chance to see this powerhouse live. They are definitely a band worth sticking around for. If you stop by this site on the regular, you can trust this band is for you. Take a listen to “Johnny Utah” below.

MP3: Futurebirds – “Johnny Utah”
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Pre-Order: Futurebirds – Hampton’s Lullaby

By Tyler Fassnacht

Over the last ten years, New York band Liars has experimented with more sounds than any other band I can think of around today and throughout five albums, the band has touched on frantic dissonance, danceable grooves and ambient bliss, sometimes all in the same song. It honestly would be very difficult to notice that all these sounds were the same band, if not for the recognizable moans and yelps of singer Angus Andrew.

One of the best things about seeing Liars live is that all of the aforementioned sounds are represented, which makes for an extremely entertaining show and Wednesday’s concert at the High Noon Saloon did not disappoint.

Opening the evening was John Wiese, a composer of, simply put, noise. His set consisted of approximately twenty-five minutes of droning low frequencies with plenty of feedback, bleeps, swooshes and other various sounds that made an eerily entrancing performance for someone sitting at a table with a laptop and a mixer. Having said that, I must say I am not really into the live aspect of such music, especially because it was just one guy sitting down; it wasn’t all that exciting. Also, it didn’t help that I had come for the sonic blast that is Liars.

By the time Liars came on, the audience had grown in size and came up closer to the stage, all in preparation for what was to come. The band came out, all very normal looking, and started to play, but one thing was missing. Several moments later Angus took the stage. Standing at some height significantly taller than six foot, with mangy hair long enough to cover his entire face for most of the show, the Australian front man really did make the evening. During songs he shook his hands and waved his arms about as he moved his hips back and forth. His dancing and kind stage banter with his charming accent made him entertaining, but his creepy falsetto stuck in songs between deep wails and growls made him a driving force for the band. With two guitars, who also played keys, bass and drums, Liars built a wall of noise and they continued to build it higher and to push it closer to the audience as the show went on.

Even though the set list took a lot from their recent release, the great Sisterworld, Liars filled the gaps with tracks spanning their entire career, like the pummeling “Plaster Casts of Everything” and the beautiful “The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack.” They also played a Killdozer song! Which was quite awesome. After ending their set, the original three members of the band came out for a two-song encore. There was shaking, dancing and a lot of cheering on the audience’s part and the band thanked Madison and seemed genuinely happy to be performing. Liars amazed me as their music kept me moving as well as thinking, with their bizarre arrangements and sometimes deranged lyrics.

I had read about Liars being one of those live bands that people need to see and after seeing them myself, I could not agree more. If you get a chance, take it and trust me, you will not regret it.

Liars play Turner Hall Ballroom in Milwaukee tonight. Tickets are $14 and still available.

Buy: Liars – Sisterworld

The Levi’s Pioneer Sessions have been pretty top-notch of late. We were fans of Ryan Bingham before his song and appearance in Crazy Heart made him a household name. If you don’t have his album, Mescalito in your collection, do yourself a favor and pick it up.

Bingham rolled out a haunting take on “That’s How Strong My Love Is” for Levi’s Pioneer Sessions. The song, made famous by Otis Redding, has been included on many mix cd’s I’ve made over the years, and, heard Bingham’s take, I’m sure his will be included on future compilations I create for friends.

Download: Ryan Bingham – “That’s How Strong My Love Is”

Ryan Bingham will release his next album, Junky Star (September 7, 2010) on Lost Highway Records. You can stream new material from the forthcoming release here.

Today La Blogotheque debuted The Daredevil Christopher Wright’s video for “Stewardess,” which coincidentally is our favorite track off their album, In Deference To A Broken Back, which now over a year after its release continues to surprise me with each listen. It truly is an album that deserves more attention.

You have plenty of chances to catch the band live this month including this weekend in Chicago at our showcase on Sunday night at the Abbey Pub. Madison and Milwaukee, they’ll be visiting you soon!

MP3: The Daredevil Christopher Wright – “The East Coast”
MP3: The Daredevil Christopher Wright – “How To Get My Head Back On My Shoulders”
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Buy: The Daredevil Christopher Wright – In Deference To A Broken Back

We’re very excited about next week’s double bill of Nathaniel Rateliff + JBM at Club Garibaldi in Milwaukee. Tickets are on sale now ($10), don’t sleep on getting yours. We fell in love with Rateliff’s sound when we first caught him opening for Mason Jennings last year. Since then, we’ve become even more enamored after his performance on the Daytrotter barnstorming tour stop through town and most recently opening for the Tallest Man on Earth at the Pabst.

Giveaway: We’ve got five (5) copies of Nathaniel Rateliff’s gorgeous album, In Memory of Loss to give away. Drop a comment confirming your attendance at next week’s show and we’ll select five winners at random and hand them the album at the door.

Buy: Nathaniel Rateliff – In Memory of Loss

By Jon Stone | @jwstone

In 1995 Lollapolloza was still two years from its demise as a touring festival and I was between my junior and senior years of high school waiting for a chance — any chance — to see my favorite new band that year, Hum, from the exotic and distant sounding town of Champaign, Illinois. They were to appear on the Lolla second stage that year and I bought a ticket for that show — $55 dollars for a bill that really didn’t have many bands that I was all that interested in. Yes folks, in 1995 I paid the equivalent of 11 hours of hard-earned minimum-wage money to see one little band from the Midwest play a 45 minute set.

The first time I heard Hum was on the radio (remember when that used to be, like, a normal thing?). I was driving to my first job in a crummy dollar movie theater in Tucson, Arizona. And, wow the first time that heavy chord in “Stars” hit it left an impression. . . “she thinks she missed the train to Mars, she’s out back counting…” BOOM. I was 17. It was like magic.

Ironically I don’t remember much about that Lollapalooza show. I remember the Phoenix heat being nearly unbearable and I remember standing against the front row gate watching (and loving) The Roots who played right before Hum on the second stage. I remember it rocked. I met Matt Talbot briefly after the show and he signed the copy of the band’s first major release Electra 2000 that I bought at the merch table because it wasn’t available anywhere else. I also remember thinking it was funny that the band was wearing the exact same clothes as they had in their appearance on Conan the night before.

Hum filled a gap for me that summer. They were heavier than most the bands I was listening to at the time, but unlike other acts that were pushing the wall-of-distortion sound, Hum managed to be both approachable and melodic. This was a combination that other bands like Helmet (too frat-boy tough) or Tool (too scary) didn’t quite get right. Matt and his band were unassuming but unapologetic. They didn’t seem to be trying to fill a niche, yet filled one perfectly. They were skinny, nerdy looking, and played heavier than anything on Alternative radio.  The skinny and the nerdy everywhere (i.e. me) bought their record and then bought Boss distortion pedals.

Fifteen years later (i.e. last Saturday night), I was in the crowd of a free reunion show in that less-exotic far away land of Champaign that I now call home listening again to Hum. They played loud and hard and even though neither me or Matt is that scrawny anymore, the sound and songs rang out, the crowd collectively bonged their head (that’s half-way inbetween a head bob and a head bang), and we were all happy and 17 once more. Hum’s headlining, Champaign 150th anniversary show was a great time. They played several songs off of that seminal ’95 release You’d Prefer an Astronaut a smattering of tunes from 1998′s Downward is Heavenward and even one or two from that afore mentioned first release. The highlight of the show was “Suicide Machine” a slow-burning melody-heavy song — elements that epitomize what is/was best about Hum.

By the summer of 1995 the best of what the 90s had to offer was, arguably, over. Hum kept things alive and vibrant for a few moments longer by taking everything that was great about music that decade, turning it inside out, and pushing the distortion pedal as far as it would go. I was glad on Saturday night that my ears had a chance to ring again.

A special thanks to Will Boucher for the great front-row pictures and setlist.